Ever since the Great Depression, regulators have tried to prevent bank runs. As Congress inches toward financial reform, it is failing to address the modern equivalent of this old problem: runs on the market. That, after all, is what brought ...
Read More »Death-spiral capital relieves Bernanke’s dilemma
The simplest solutions continue to escape those trying to fix our broken financial system. Consider banks’ need to have enough capital on hand to weather market storms. Instead of requiring banks to simply raise and hold more common equity – ...
Tagged with: banks Ben Bernanke
Read More »Geithner’s F-bombs don’t scratch Goldman Sachs
Political drama over how to regulate the financial industry, replete with an f-bomb-filled rant from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has obscured a huge unresolved issue: what to do about too-big-to-fail financial institutions. If anything, questions surrounding these institutions – banks, ...
Tagged with: Ben Bernanke F-bomb Mary Schapiro Sheila Bair Tim Geithner
Read More »Bankers bet jobs on V-shaped recovery
The country’s biggest banks are doubling down on a bet that the economy will improve in the latter half of the year. If they’re wrong, and borrowers don’t pull out of a tailspin, bankers and their investors will take a ...
Read More »Mortgage bombs await next boom
Here’s a way to help head off the next financial crisis: Make sure borrowers have some of their own money on the line. That’s a no-brainer. Not, though, for Congress and regulators. They squandered a chance after the early 1990s ...
Tagged with: financial crisis
Read More »GM retirees bully bondholders with Obama’s help
General Motors Corp.’s likely bankruptcy filing is being cast in some quarters as a fight between “money people” intent on making a killing and honest efforts by the government to save a company and jobs. In reality, GM’s demise comes ...
Tagged with: Bankruptcy General Motors
Read More »Hedge-fund destruction is route to Salvation
Like plenty of financial players, hedge funds are taking a beating. Many once-high-flying managers have been swamped by losses. Others have abandoned the business after discovering it wasn’t such an easy path to riches. Even some of the biggest firms ...
Tagged with: Bernard Madoff Citadel Investment Group LLC hedge funds investors Standard & Poor Tudor Investment Corp.
Read More »Mr. President, time to stop corporate hijackings
Want to foster greater responsibility, Mr. President? Give investors a greater say in how their companies are run. That should be a no-brainer and part of any plan to reform the U.S. financial system. Mary Schapiro, the new administration’s pick ...
Tagged with: Barack Obama Mary Schapiro Securities and Exchange Commission
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